Modern historians, archaeologists, and humanists all admit that the wisdom of ancient people far exceeded that of modern people.

Although modern people have always advertised the practice of "reading 10,000 books and traveling 10,000 miles" to surpass the ancients, no one has ever succeeded.

I have read in many books about the "Knotted Rope Chronicles", in which the ancients relied on the knots as clues to precipitate or evoke memories and record those historical events that must be remembered.

"Why?" With so many ropes and knots, I was puzzled.

The empress lived in the Tang Dynasty, when the pen, ink, paper, inkstone, words and pictures had developed to a fairly complete stage, and she had a very high cultivation in piano, chess, calligraphy, painting, singing and dancing since she was a child, otherwise the two generations of emperors would not be obsessed with her alone. Then, when she left that era, the easiest way was to bring advanced recording methods to completely replace the "knotted rope notes", so that the truth of history clearly surfaced.

If she really did that, the history of the Wandering Ghost Country would be clear, and there would definitely not be the slightest confusion.

"This is the best way to record history, and even if outsiders get their hands on the rope, they can't easily tamper with history. The truth of history is preserved intact in the knot, and hundreds or thousands of years have passed, and the rope will not decay, and the truth will not be eliminated. In many places outside, history has become a little girl who can be dressed up as she is. That's not real history, it's a winner's declaration. Sun Moon Niang said.

She walked over to a rope that had just been knotted a dozen times, slowly reached out and grabbed the end of the rope, pulled two rings on the left and right, and then threaded the tail of the rope through the ring, and then slowly tightened it.

The rope buckle is similar to the mast pirate buckle on ocean-going ships, but it has a different meaning.

The purpose of the pirate buckle is to quickly tie the knot, and the mast is fixed in a race against the imminent tsunami. The knot is also easy to loosen quickly, ensuring that in the event of a large ship in distress, the mast is immediately abandoned, the sail is lowered and the rope is lowered to maintain the balance of the hull.

"When future generations see this knot, they will know that today, there are four forces involved in the war, and the relationship between them is complicated, there is me in the enemy, and there is the enemy in us, but in the end they unite and solve the most troublesome problem." Sun Moon Niang said.

Her fingers were very soft, and when she tied the knot, her fingertips twisted slowly and lightly, twisting the rope out of angle continuously. That should be the most subtle part of tying knots, different forces lead to different knot tightness, different twisting angles lead to different knots shape.

"Is your knot the only one you can decipher?" I asked.

Sun Yueniang nodded: "That's right, the bell must be tied to the bell." ”

I nodded, too, "But, no matter how long you live and how good your memory is, you will still encounter times when you can't recognize the meaning of the knot, right?" At that point, all the knots will be gone, right? ”

This is definitely the biggest flaw of knotted rope notes.

Even if Sun Moon Niang can live to be nine thousand years old, when she is nine years old and one day, she will definitely die, and humans will lose the ability to decipher knots overnight. As a result, all the things she wrote down became useless old ropes, worthy of being thrown into the garbage.

"Think about the existence of 'hidden treasurers' and 'diggers', just to relieve this kind of worries." Sun Moon Niang said.

It dawned on me that the knotted rope account is exactly the same as the most mysterious "hidden treasure" in Tibetan Buddhism, and it is a process of "decoding" with a deep secret nature.

In the eyes of outsiders, knots do not represent any meaning, but in the eyes of the "decoder", each knot contains more meaning than a sprinkling record.

There are thousands of knots in this room, and if they could be unearthed, the history of mankind would probably be rewritten.

"Meaningless." Riyue Niang turned to look at me, and suddenly shook her head slightly.

It was clear that she read my thoughts from my eyes.

"History needs to be unearthed, and the people need to know the truth." I say.

Sun Yueniang shook her head again: "It's not true, especially the latter, the people don't need the truth at all." What the people need is a story that can soothe the soul and comfort dreams, the truth is always bloody, who wants to see those? ”

I sighed and admitted that she had a point.

When some fighters attack the government for whitewashing the peace, they are actually only representing their own ideas, not the collective will of ordinary people, ordinary people. Ordinary people just want to live a stable and happy life, and whether history is true or not is indeed not what they care about. What's more, heroes create history, and the common people have no ability to interfere with the direction of history, so they can only be coerced forward by the times.

In that case, what's the point of the knotted rope note? Who will give thousands of knots to see? I asked.

Sun Moon Niang's expression gradually became serious: "What is recorded here is the annual rings of the earth, and the existence of annual rings is not for someone or a certain government to see, but a true record of the existence of nature." Therefore, no meaning is the greatest significance, just like the existence of mountains and seas, what is the meaning of high mountains and deep seas? The answer is that there is no meaning, and their whole point is that they exist forever and need no explanation. ”

For a long time, there have been two kinds of human history, one is the history of the past dynasties that is placed in the historical museum for people to read and learn, and the other is the history of life that has happened and the world has been used as a mirror.

As Sun Moon Niang said, the people don't need the truth, because the historical truth is always naked and bloody, and the people don't have the courage to face it. Most people need to whitewash the results of the peace, and that false sense of happiness can give them the courage to face the cruel reality and live happily in self-deception.

In the country of flowing ghosts, the real history is recorded and continued by the method of "knotting rope records", and Sun Moon Niang is one of the very few people in the world who dare to face the real history.

This kind of person is rare in the world, only one in a billion. As for the so-called "brave" like Alexander the Great, they are too far from the realm of Sun Moon Niang.

"I seem to understand a little bit." I say.

"If you are too modest, in fact, what you understand in an instant is enough for the so-called wise people in the world to think about it for a lifetime. I believe that we are the same kind of people, and you can also decipher these knots. Sun Moon Niang said.

I shook my head: "I am the one who carries a heavy burden on my shoulders, unlike Your Excellency. ”

No matter where I walk in the world, I know my goal clearly, and I dare not act willfully or forget the slightest. The knotted rope is a secret in another realm, and I don't want to be distracted and troubled again.

"Who has no responsibility on his shoulders? I have wandered in Tibetan areas for many years, those who are in hiding, those who are diggers, those who have received the 'Apocalypse' bards, those who have rushed to the Holy Land from all directions from the east, south, north, west and north, with their heads prostrate...... Where did they come from and where are they going? Isn't it all about the responsibility on your shoulders? Mr. Long, stay, stay here and become a true historian, like me and my predecessors, living for the greatest cause of humanity. Sun Moon Niang said.

This is indeed the greatest cause of mankind, and the most selfless process of dedication. I know very well that what Sun Moon Niang and her predecessors have done is a feat that humans will never know and understand.

I was just about to speak, but Sun Moon Niang raised her hand to stop: "Please wait, Mr. Long, don't be in a hurry to refuse me." There are so many unspeakable secrets here, please try to decipher one and give yourself – and history – a chance, okay? ”

Under her gentle plea, it was difficult for me to refuse, so I had to nod: "I'll try, but I don't make any promises." ”

Sun Moon Niang breathed a sigh of relief: "Okay, never reluctantly." ”

As soon as I entered, I noticed a rope farthest from the door. The other ropes were made of strips of cloth and silk threads, but the one was mixed with a lot of long black hair, which was full of sadness.

I walked slowly over to the rope.

From top to bottom, there were forty knots in the ropes, one of the greatest, twenty-three of the large, fifteen of the smallest, and one of the very smallest.

I lifted my hand and took the smallest knot in my palm.

"It's alive, it's motionless on the surface, but it's beating vigorously on the inside, like a heart...... It's alive, and it has a lot to say...... It is the seed that gathers all the stories in it, waiting for the next sprout to grow, and at the right time to grow into a big tree and a forest...... It resembles a relic, but it is a living relic, and the knowledge contained in it is as vast as a sea...... "I immediately perceived the mysterious power contained in this knot, which was slightly larger than a button.

It's a wonderful feeling, and although its structure is extremely simple, it is infused with great meaning by the knotsters in the process of tying the knots.

At this moment, I held the knot, and I immediately reached a heart-to-heart communication with the knotter.

"Who are you?" I couldn't help but speak, whispering with a mixture, bewilderment, and reverence.

There was a voice, but it was a very obscure language, like ancient Tibetan or ancient Sanskrit.

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, shielded myself from all the distractions of the outside world, and let my mind become a huge empty bag, put all the sound in it, and then read it with my heart.

The biggest difference between modern and ancient Tibetan is the grammar and sentence structure, and some specific words such as prajna, reincarnation, rebirth, etc., do not have any phonetic or word meaning changes. So, as I gradually understood, the voice kept repeating four very brief sentences.

The first sentence is to the effect of "entering samsara...... Extrication...... maximum relief"; The second sentence is to the effect of "obstacles...... obstacles to liberation"; The third sentence is "liberation, reincarnation, rebirth"; The fourth sentence is "Rebirth is not liberation, reincarnation is eternity."

At the end of the four sentences, there is a unique pentatylable vocabulary that I don't understand for the time being, so I can only write it down by force. Since the word appears four times, and it's not a simple mood particle, it must be significant.

When there was no other change in the voice, I opened my eyes, let go of the knot, and let out a long exhale.

"Knotted Rope Chronicle" is really an extremely advanced knowledge, not just a few rotten knots in the eyes of outsiders.

What I have just experienced is quite close to the "hidden treasure" of Tibetan Buddhism, and it is even the same thing. Before dying, ancient practitioners hid the truth they had learned all their lives at a certain point, waiting for someone destined to come and discover it.

This knot is equivalent to a tape recorder and tape, recording the practitioner's voice. If a later person can recognize these codes, they will be able to read the audio on the tape, interpret it, and pass it on again.

Completely reluctantly reeling from the thought shock of the knot, I realized that the clothes on my back had been completely soaked with hot sweat and my muscles were sore from the long period of excessive tension.

"Are you alright?" Sun Moon Niang stood across from me, staring deeply into my eyes and asking with concern.

I nodded, and repeated the four sentences and another pentatylable word.

Sun Yueniang's face changed suddenly, her hands were folded, and she bowed deeply to the knot, her forehead almost touching her knees.

It was evident from my words that she had discerned the identity of the one who had made the knot, and that it must have been so noble that anyone should bow down to it.

"Ashamed, ashamed, the teacher, the younger generation is stupid, and he has not been able to read the meaning of the knot, and he hopes to forgive his sins. The light of your wisdom will always shine through the Himalayas and bring auspiciousness, happiness and peace to the Tibetan compatriots. May this glory shine for thousands or tens of thousands of years, and the light will last forever, and the darkness will not be born......" Sun Moon Niang repeated this passage four times, straightened up, and bowed deeply to the knot three times in a row.

I didn't speak, she had such reverence for the knot-tying that she didn't even dare to say his name, and I shouldn't have spoken anything.